In corporate travel management, having a centralized platform that seamlessly connects key areas like travel booking, expense management, HR data, and financial systems in real-time is often seen as the ideal solution. However, since fully integrating systems may not always be feasible for every business due to cost, security, or resource constraints, integrating specific data silos can offer an alternate path to delivering significant, fast returns.
For example, connecting travel bookings with expenses can enhance decision-making, and reduce costly errors. Let’s explore some use cases where these integrations can help and the “gotchas” businesses face when systems remain disconnected.
Use Case: Travel Booking Reports Doesn’t Match Expense Reports
One of the challenges with travel and expense (T&E) tracking and reporting is when travel bookings don’t align with submitted expense reports. For example, an employee books a $500 flight (base fare with taxes and fees) through their corporate booking tool, but when they submit their expense report for their flight, the total comes to $750. The issue? Extra fees like checked baggage, seat upgrades, or onboard Wi-Fi weren’t reflected at the time of booking, but they show up later in the expense report. Another example are off-channel bookings, which aren’t captured in online booking tools.
Without integration between booking and expense management tools, your finance team has little visibility into these discrepancies or misses them completely. When travel and expense systems don’t communicate seamlessly, finance departments can be left struggling to capture accurate travel costs.
Use Case: HR Data Isn’t Synced with Expense Systems
HR systems are key to ensuring T&E costs are properly allocated within an organization and users have appropriates rights and permissions within travel management tools. When HR data isn’t fully integrated with travel management tools, manually reconciling T&E by department can become a time-consuming and error-prone task and employees may not have the right travel permissions or policies applied. This disconnect leads to inefficiencies in financial reporting and resource allocation. Particularly in large organizations with significant organizational changes and hiring.
Disconnected Systems Lead to Bad Data and Bad Decisions
When systems aren’t connected, companies operate with incomplete or outdated data. This can lead to inefficiencies, bad financial reporting, and poor decision-making. Without integrated systems, it’s difficult for companies to get a clear view of travel expenses, employee travel behavior, and the full cost of trips.
In the case of disconnected HR systems, manual reconciliation between HR systems, travel bookings and expense reports can lead to wasted time and increased the risk of errors. These disconnects can also make it hard to forecast future travel expenses accurately, leaving finance teams scrambling to manage budgets or negotiate agreements.
The 3 Gotchas From Disconnected Travel Systems
Delaying system and data integration can lead to organizational challenges. Here are three of the “gotchas” that companies face when systems aren’t connected:
Gotcha 1: Hidden Travel Costs
Booking systems might capture the base fare of flights or hotels, but without integration, additional charges like baggage fees, upgrades, or hotel incidentals may not be properly reported. Off-channel bookings are also difficult to identify. This incomplete data can lead to reports that don’t tell the complete picture about your company’s travel spend.
Gotcha 2: Misallocated T&E Expenses and Travel Policy/Duty of Care Breakdowns
When your HR system isn’t synced with your expense platforms, it can lead to inaccurate reporting and other challenges. If an employee moves departments, is promoted, or leaves the company, these changes may not be reflected in your systems in a timely manner. As a result, travel and expense costs could be misallocated to the wrong department, project, or budget.
Additionally, without up-to-date HR data, managing duty of care and enforcing travel policies becomes difficult. For instance, if employee roles aren’t accurately reflected, companies may fail to meet duty of care obligations or misapply travel policies
Gotcha 3: Manual Reconciliation Hassles
When systems don’t communicate, your finance team is stuck manually reconciling travel bookings with expenses to build accurate travel spend reports. This time-consuming process introduces more chances for errors and forces your teams to spend valuable time tracking down discrepancies and missed travel costs, rather than focusing on more strategic tasks.
Why Flexibility in Integration is Key
While full system integration may not always be the best fit for every company due to concerns like cost, security, or the need for flexibility, having the option to integrate systems incrementally over time allows businesses to tailor their solutions to specific needs, enabling them to scale and adapt without the burden of overhauling everything at once. Having the ability to connect key platforms down the road ensures that businesses can stay agile, scale efficiently, and avoid the pitfalls of disconnected data.
Interested in learning how you can start getting your disconnected systems in order?
